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Verizon Considering Purchase of Netflix
schwit1 writes "Shares of Netflix soared more than 6% Monday on a report that Verizon Communications is considering buying the troubled movie renter. Verizon is reportedly evaluating whether a purchase of Netflix could provide an entry into the video delivery business, DealReporter said, citing a source close to the matter. The news comes as Netflix continues to struggle from a series of missteps earlier this year when it raised subscription prices and separated its DVD-by-mail service and streaming. Netflix's stock price plunged to a new 52-week low two weeks ago when the company warned it would fall to a loss in 2012 if it failed to boost its bruised customer base."
Wowsers, if you thought Netflix was nickel-and-diming you, wait til Verizon gets hold of them. Probably cost you a quarter every time you use fast forward.
Instead of having flat-rate streaming movies, it's an add-on that dings you per movie.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
The CRTC will have a fit and use it as even more reason to keep the lecherous US company from stealing Bell's customers. Damn them netflix hooligans with their fairer prices.
If Verizon buys Netflix, we'll be paying $15/month for streaming to ONE device at a time, and the DVD delivery will be dropped entirely.There will be a limit of 15 streams a month per account, or 50GB of data, whichever comes first. Additional streams will cost $3.99 each. And you'll have to sign a 2-year contract. And if you want to stream to your PHONE, that will be another $15 a month, on top of the $15/month membership.
Streaming that only works well on verizon internet!
You know, it's bad enough that ISP's, Verizon definitely included, are using bandwidth caps now, which limits the attraction of a service like Netflix.
It's bad enough that Verizon charges you extra to use functions on your phone that don't have a damn thing to do with their network at all (Mobile Hotspot).
I don't think I want to know how they manage to ruin Netflix, if they were to snatch it up.
"No one is more miserable than the person who wills everything and can do nothing." -Emperor Claudius 10 BC - AD 54
Just like the Verizon FiOS site.
$5-$20 per device mirroring fee just like the fees they make you pay per cable box to rent them.
You forgot one of their old slogans that still applies to Verizon, and would apply to Netflix.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
the content producer. Should this actually happen, it could in no way be good for Netflix's customers, or even the market in general. Content carriers really should be separate from the producers of said content. It provides far too many opportunities for conflicts of interest, including (but not limited to) bandwidth and price preference. This is a bad idea; the telcos have proven time and time again that they are not to be trusted.
After their recent misstetp they'll likely be a bargain buy. Expect Verizon to only be interested in the technology, IP and media rights portfolio, while they ditch the people who are running the company.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
That'll definitely kill it. Verizon will force folks to subscribe to their cable service and offer it as an add-on or something horrible like that. I can't see how Verizon won't resist squeezing all the blood out of Netflix like everything else they do.
I'm going to go hug a Redbox today.
Already screwed over by Verizon in the past, dropped them as soon as my contract ran out, then swore I would never do business with them again.
I guess I will have that final "nail in the coffin" that pushes me to drop Netflix too. Ah well, it was good while it lasted (11 years).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon#Controversies
I am a long time customer. I love it. Even with the latest mis-steps, I am still a happy customer. Yes, they screwed up. But the service is still totally worth it to me.
But if Verizon buys them, I'm cancelling. I just cannot imagine any way that they wouldn't completely destroy Netflix's value proposition.
I think Reed has earned a generous severance package. People who don't perform well just don't belong at Netfix. http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=netflix+generous+severance+package
I hung on through the price increases and the wacky Qwikster thing. If they really don't want me as a customer, selling out to Verizon would certainly solve that issue.
I had this crazy idea of opening some sort of store front where people could like pay a subscription fee or a per-movie fee and then, like, borrow a certain amount of movies at a time, and when they brought them back could get some more. Like a pay-for library but for movies. It's been my dream for a long time but I was afraid to compete against Netflix. Maybe if Verizon buys them maybe movie store could really work out...
...how to get a large part of netflix's subscriber base to unsubscribe. That'd be the first thing I do if this happens, to be honest. Yes, netflix has had some hiccups, but nothing too bad considering I pay $9 / month for access to their library anywhere I am. The only way this might be good is if they can get even more TV shows on there or somehow fix the media industry's holdback on getting newer TV shows online faster. Lol that'd be the day.
that would not be good!!!!!!! i love my netflix and couldn't think of life without it. don't do it netflix, you guys can get back into the game. come on you took out blockbuster, don't give up just yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Missteps were mildly annoying, but I never considered cancelling. I _will_ cancel if Verizon acquires Netflix.
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." - H. G. Wells
I don't think I want to know how they manage to ruin Netflix, if they were to snatch it up.
www.pvpmmocu.com
the very second this happens
Watching movies and videos is an expensive activity. More expensive than most realize. Start a business instead.
... just a monkey brain fart, not an attack on video watchers.
Take it for what it is
Lily Tomlin
Well that will be one sure fire way to kill internet "over" consumption. Put it on Verizon's network. It'll be so slow, nobody will want or be able to use it.
Network saturation? Problem solved!
I subscribed to Netflix specifically to get streaming, but I was very disappointed in the movies available for streaming. I know - this is probably the fault of the studios more than Netflix - but nonetheless, after only a couple of months, I had watched everything worth watching and I was really digging to find good content. Netflix has taught me that the *number* of movies is only part of the story - because Netflix has far too much worthless crap.
The technology works fine - I'm not a video/audio snob, and I was plenty happy with the quality of streaming through my Time-Warner cable to my Blu-Ray player. Now just give me the content!!! Whoever can figure out how to deliver the best content with a flat monthly fee will win. I'm not interested in any form of pay-per-view.
So the leadership of Netflix makes some absolutely poor decisions that cause their stock to drop, the next thing that happens is Verizon wants to buy them (greater media consolidation?) and the stocks go up...
It would be fascinating to see who purchased the stock after ti dropped from their truly amateurish business decision.
http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/12/1432211/does-mega-media-control-90-of-content
http://allthingsd.com/20101021/who-us-netflix-says-its-customers-arent-cord-cutters/
All of it right before your eyes.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
The fact of the matter is that the majority of people on the old Netflix plan only used the streaming service or the DVD plan because it came free with the one they wanted. They never had any interest in paying for the other service, so when Netflix decided to start charging for it, they naturally dropped the one they didn't use.
There was a smaller group that liked both, and decided that even with a 60% price increase, that it was worth it.
There was an even smaller group that liked both, but were frustrated with the streaming selection, annoyed at the screwed up website. They were already looking at other options, but nothing came close to the combined value of DVDs and streaming. When the price increase came, this changed and other options started looking more competitive so they left. But again this was a very small group.
I wouldn't call people who don't want to pay for a service they hardly use spoiled. I wouldn't call people who can find a better deal spoiled. I call it obvious, and if Netflix had done any customer research they would have as well.
I love Netflix. It's my only source of Television now. If Verizon buys Netflix I will be totally screwed.
Not to mention I bet if they buy Netflix the mobile app will be pulled from the market and merged with their "Verizon TV" crap, so anyone not on Verizon will not be able to watch Netflix on their phone anymore.
I have stayed with Netflix through their recent screwups because they still offer exactly what I want for the price I want, and I don't particularly hate them as a company. And despite what everyone bitches about, my rate hasn't actually changed (except down!) since I originally signed up way back in their early days.
I do, however, loathe you as a company, with every fiber of my being. If you buy Netflix, I will drop my subscription before the ink dries.
So please, don't. I would prefer to keep my Netflix subscription. I will not, however, ever do business with Verizon, under any name I recognize as affiliated with them.
I don't care if you like Verizon or not, we have to stop content carriers from buying content providers. Comcast+NBC, Verizon+Netflix, etc. It is bad enough that one company provides phone lines + service on those lines, now they are going to provide the whole thing?
"No Mr. Senator, VerizonFlix services will not be hindered when traveling over competing networks. Here, ask our friend Benjamin if he sees any problems with it..."
On my last DVD rental return (I don't use the streaming service due to the much lower quality of the stream, no extra features, and the fact that when I did try it the streaming versions were sometimes markedly inferior in content -- one movie, for example, was missing nearly 20 minutes of what was on the rental DVD) Netflix acknowledged my return, but then didn't send out my next DVD for an entire day. When you're on the 1-at-a-time plan, that is a significant hit.
Their explanation? When I called in I was told that the TOS allows them to only have to send the next DVD in a 1-to-3 day window. Furthermore, the only times in the past when they didn't get my next DVD out the same day as the returned one was received (they send e-mails when they receive the returned DVD so I knew that they had it), they sent me a +1 bonus disc to make up for the loss in rental time. NO LONGER. I was told that the supervisor would not approve it and the guy in customer service actually told me that it had been A MISTAKE that this had ever been done in the past.
Fine, Netflix is losing money now, not my fault. Keep this up and they'll be losing even more customers who remember when their service was much better than it appears to be now.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
As a happy Fios internet customer, a long time Netflix and someone considering becoming a Verizon wireless customer I am very disappointed by the prospect. There is no way Verizon would not star tying in the Netflix service with their own and raising costs and instituting caps. It's worse than that though I think as it would be bad for the entire industry. Netflix was the only streaming service out there with enough weight to start forcing studios to open up to the streaming idea. They were happy to sit on their piles of money and make people go out to the store to pay for DVDs they only watched two or three times. Without Netflix I think the entire streaming industry will take another 5 years to real take off and it will probably end up being the Verizons and Comcasts that have the control of it now. Expect your $10/month streaming service to be $80/month with option $15/month add on for the sports package and $20/month movie package.
I've put up with their price increases (I don't see them as too horrible) for $15 a month it sure beats cable and suits my needs well.
However, I absolutely refuse to do business with Verizon, if they were bought by Verizon, I'd be out the next day. It might be time to start looking into alternatives like Hulu and Amazon Prime
This isn't about Verizon wanting to get into the Streaming market, it's about Verizon wanting to kill competition and roll back the clock on online streaming. They want to make it so your choice for video entertainment is once again restricted by which access provider you have. Eventually you'll end up with exactly what we had with cable but for internet access.
Nice work IAAs for F@#$ing up a good thing. I guess it's back to Pirating all my entertainment. I'm trying to be an honest, law abiding citizen here, and you clowns make it so difficult. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "the customer is always right"? Just like the GOP is making it hard to be a republican with this clown show they call the primary.
My 10 year old son learned on his own Verizon's business strategies... with Roller Coaster Tycoon. He'd hide the amusement park's exit gate so guests would stay longer and hence spend more, and he'd cut the prices on soft drinks a little and charge for restroom usage. My younger daughter would get involved and check the state of individual guests. They were usually desperately looking for an exit or a restroom, or feeling nauseous, but my son didn't respond to their plight since his short-term profits were increasing. Recent decisions at the USPS regarding next-day delivery WILL impact Netflix's DVD shipments adversely, driving the business even faster to streaming. The best we can hope for if Verizon buys them is that they'll quickly spin off the DVD business, and it will focus on older and commercially less-successful movies. I do expect Verflixon to charge more to stream to "smart" devices (however they decide to define that), and make it difficult to tolerate not subscribing to the extra cost options. Furthermore, they'll obsolete existing Netflix-capable devices (Roku, Wii, etc.) and market their own replacements, "free" with a 24 month contract. Also, resolution will be lower and there'll be pauses for "rebuffering." Don't forget that documentaries about corporate malfeasance, citizen discontent, and popular uprisings will disappear from the catalog. You won't be watching pieces about OWS or anything Michael Moore might think up, but you'll get virtual visits to Ground Zero—Giftshop, that is, with "buy me now" buttons onscreen. Watch for a Verizon-Disney merge soon... Derizney? My son will then be hired to run Derizneyland.
Tyranny and Oppression HAVE come to this land in the guise of fighting both foreign and domestic pedophiles!
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I cancelled Netflix due to the split and the price increase. If Verizon buys them it can only improve, and I might consider trying it again.
Not sure what Verizon all the complainers are talking about, but it sure isn't the one I've been using for 7+ years. Reliable wireless network that provides a good connection even with only one bar, internet that has only gone down once in 7 years, only one billing error that was quickly corrected in all these years and the best customer service of any wireless or cable provider I have ever used in 20+ years.
If you're not getting this kind of service from your Verizon, I feel sorry for you and suggest you complain up the chain of command. In the Dallas, TX area, it has been flawless for me.
Nickel and dime? Where does this come from? Every time Verizon contacts us with some offer, it has been to increase our bandwidth, lower our prices or add some freebies to our TV package.
My only wish for Verizon not to purchase Netflix is that I don't believe Netflix deserves saving. This would "bail out" Netflix as a company and let the executives depart with full pockets. Rewarding a failure only encourages more failures.
I'm one of those "spoiled brats". I'm curious what lesson I learned. I left Netflix and left loudly. So... not sure how it got worse. The service price exceeded benefit. People left. Netflix lost.
Netflix didn't lose money to whining. Netflix lost money because people left. And having left, why do we care one iota if it becomes worse or is bought by Verizon or the People's Republic of China.
Let me nail this point for you: we don't care.
All you are saying is, "Hah! See, the price went up, and you left! Now the service is going to get worse because you left! Aren't you sorry you left now!"
Well, um... no. I'm actually pretty satisfied with my decision. You see, the problem here is that you love Netflix, and you don't want to go to Verizon. And you blame us, because we don't. So you are throwing a tantrum because we all left you like it was MySpace and your baby is bought by the big bad corporation, though it is by Verizon this time, not Rupert Murdoch.
You say that whining made people leave. FYI: Most Netflix subscribers don't read Slashdot. But they did see their bill jump up at least 60%, a minimum of $6, not $2. Don't rant if you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
If you think Netflix lost 800,000 customers because of Slashdot or bloggers... You're a moron, a certified moron. Strike that, you're a troll. How you were ever modded insightful is beyond me. Maybe sympathy for your pity party nobody else wants to attend.
Besides, you stole your rant from RWW: http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/10/stop-whining-about-netflix-and.php and at least he had a real point.
Good! After all the whining of a measly $2/month increase in price brought on Netflix by the movie studios, I'd say the spoiled brats that make up TEH BLAGOSPHERE needed a cold, hard lesson in "shut your fucking trap and learn to appreciate what you've got or someone might make it worse"! If it weren't for their incessant, self-centered whining*, Netflix wouldn't have lost quite so many customers and money and would've still looked too expensive for Verizon to absorb! So, congrats on digging too deep, guys! All hail Verizon! :-D
*: You may point out that, by definition, whining is already inherently self-centered. To that I say, well, touche.
I8-D
companies from buying competition for the sheer purpose of killing it in order to keep away competition? this is what has seemed to slow down the at&t/t-mobile merger.
Verizon to purchase Netflix. Netflix to be renamed Shitflix. Customers to shit bricks. Verizon to be renamed Shitbrick.
Thanks for this.
If Verizon buys Netflix, it's all over with. Verizon will put all kinds of hidden fees and restrictions that it won't be worth having anymore. Good thing there are alternatives in the works like Amazon, EpixHD, HBO GO, Hulu, plug a few others. Why does someone have to ruin a good thing?
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
You buy Netflix I and hundreds of thousands of customers just like me will CANCEL right away. You have earned your reputation as a greedy toxic corporation that love to rip off customers. If you want to buy a company that will fall apart right in your hands buy Netflix. Customer's just like me can't wait to kick you in the nuts.